


there's something about the way you're looking now

by thestarsaretalking



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25642573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestarsaretalking/pseuds/thestarsaretalking
Summary: “No, you’re not going to do work today. You can get back to work tomorrow, but you’re taking today off. I’ll take care of today’s work. Got it?” Finn gave Poe a stern look and Poe sighed. He stopped struggling in Finn’s arms and Finn let go of him, knowing he had finally given in.or Finn takes care of Poe and Poe works up the courage to confess his feelings to his co-general.
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Finn, Poe Dameron & Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 2
Kudos: 91





	there's something about the way you're looking now

When Poe was promoted to the title of general, he didn’t know much about all the work that came with the title. During the moment he was promoted, he was too busy thinking about how he would pull the Resistance back up on its feet for a final shot at defeating the First Order once and for all to think about anything past victory or failure. However, Poe was aware enough of his responsibilities to appoint Finn as his co-general, which would later prove to be one of his better decisions. 

After a few days of the Resistance celebrating its victory, the tedious work of restoring peace throughout the entire galaxy began. Poe went from spending hours on end in his hangar fixing his X-wing to spending countless hours attending meetings over the Holonet and trying to bolster diplomatic relations. He had a difficult time staying calm when dealing with snobby rulers as he couldn’t just “jump into an X-wing and blow stuff up” to solve the complicated political problems that arose. 

Finn, on the other hand, was excellent at communicating with diplomats, and he helped Poe reason with uptight rulers who refused to help do their part in restoring peace. As if Poe wasn’t willing to give up everything for Finn before, once Finn started helping Poe, Poe found himself somehow more attracted to Finn than he ever was before.

“Your majesty, I know that things are a little messy right now but if we all do our part, we can fix the First Order’s damage to the galaxy,” Finn stated calmly. He was standing next to Poe during their meeting with diplomats from the Cato Neimoidia system via holograms, and they were talking to Queen Ottaust of Brellal, who was acting particularly stubborn, after all the other rulers left the meeting. It took all of Poe’s energy to not constantly stare at Finn while they were in the meeting, even if the only thought playing on a loop in Poe’s mind was _he looks really hot when he stands like that_.

Queen Ottaust scoffed at Finn and crossed her arms while her blue hologram flickered. “Right. And would you consider yourself to be part of the damage the First Order caused?”

“How dare you-” Poe was about to unleash his pent-up fury at the queen but Finn held him back with one arm and shot him a look. With that, Poe clamped his mouth shut and tried to convey his anger by giving the queen with a withering glare. 

“Queen Ottaust, are you going to help us or not? Because everybody else in the Cato Neimoidia system has agreed to help us and you’re the only one who won’t help. We need to all cooperate for the galaxy to remain peaceful from now on,” replied Finn. Poe honestly admired how serene Finn was acting, considering that the queen had just insulted him to his face. If Finn hadn’t held him back, he would have insulted the queen to a point where she would completely dismiss the notion of working with the Resistance. 

Finn’s mediation seemed to have worked because Queen Ottaust fell silent for a moment before lifting her head and haughtily saying, “Fine. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for me to help.” 

“Great. Thank you for meeting with us. We look forward to working with you.” Finn gave a nod before he ended the call. The moment Finn turned off the hologram, Poe turned towards him and began releasing all the pent up emotions he had bottled up during the meeting. 

“I can’t _believe_ her. She had the nerve to insult you to your face and you’re a general in the Resistance! She should show you a little more respect. You just allowed her to step all over you and that’s not fair. I just wanted to punch that smirk off her face,” Poe ranted angrily. He brought his hands up and curled them into tight fists to show that he was deadly serious about punching Queen Ottaust. Finn placed a gentle hand on Poe’s wrist and lowered Poe’s arms slowly. 

“I would’ve loved to see that but this isn’t just about us anymore. It’s about the whole galaxy, and if making sure every last inch of the First Order is erased from this galaxy means that I have to handle a few insults, I’m sure I can manage,” Finn said reassuringly. His hand was still on Poe’s wrist and Poe became acutely aware of how close the two were standing. Finn also noticed and cleared his throat, letting go of Poe’s wrist. “But thanks for trying to fight for my honor.” 

Poe folded his arms across his chest and gave a small smile, “I don’t know how you do it. You’re so good at dealing with these snobby diplomats while I’m trying not to throw a temper tantrum in the middle of meetings. I wish you could do more general-ing.”  
  


Raising his eyebrows, Finn responded, “I would love to help you out more but I thought you were the one who said I should spend half of my time training with Rey and the other half helping you with general-related duties.” 

A few days after the First Order had fallen, Finn finally told Rey about being force-sensitive and he told Poe the day after. When Poe heard the news, he wrapped Finn in a giant hug and enthusiastically insisted that he should start training with Rey immediately so he could carry on the Jedi legacy. 

Finn was delighted by Poe’s unwavering support and agreed to train with Rey, who was excited to have somebody to train with. He had some concerns about not being able to help Poe out as much as he would if he wasn’t training but Poe had been confident that he would be able to handle most of the general-related duties so he gave all duties of dealing with issues within the Resistance to Finn.

“Yeah but it turns out space diplomacy is really hard and I’m not used to attending really long meetings. I’m so used to being on the move, but, somehow, standing in place for three hours and trying to get a bunch of people to work together is more tiring than flying an X-wing around,” groaned Poe as he brought his hands up to his face, trying to rub away the exhaustion. 

Finn frowned and leaned forward a little closer to get a better look at Poe’s face. Finn’s expression of confusion morphed into one of alarm when he noticed how the circles under Poe’s had darkened, and he questioned, “Poe, how many hours of sleep have you been getting?” 

“Four hours, maybe? I’m not really sure. The last few days have been really busy. Rey’s been watching over BB-8 for more hours than I spend with him. I’m too busy attending meetings and signing papers and figuring out what to do with the Resistance now that there isn’t exactly anything left for us to resist.” 

“Four hours? You know you could have told me that you need more help with running things, right? I’m co-general too and you shouldn’t have to be handling all the work by yourself. I’ll talk to Rey about cutting down my training time,” Finn earnestly assured. His eyes were wide with determination and for a moment, Poe was so distracted by Finn’s stunning eyes that he fell silent for a moment.

Poe shook his head and adamantly declared, “I don’t need extra help. I’m fine. I didn’t want to bother you because you’re training with Rey and I don’t-”

“It’s okay to ask me for help, Poe. You don’t have to go through this alone,” Finn held Poe’s hands in his and looked into Poe’s eyes. Poe tried to ingrain the feeling of Finn’s hands in his into his brain so he could bring back the feeling whenever he missed Finn. 

“Thank you. Wait, what are you doing?” Poe was guided out of the command room by Finn, who was dragging him out into the halls. He glanced around at the people walking around them, wondering if anybody was staring at them, but nobody seemed to notice. After all, the Resistance had more important things to worry about than Poe’s gay panic.

“I’m taking you to bed, obviously.” Upon hearing those words, Poe dug his heels into the ground so he could screech to a stop. Finn paused mid-step and turned around to give Poe a confused look.

“What?” Poe’s mind was reeling as he tried to find an explanation for Finn dropping the words “taking you to bed” so casually. There was no way that Finn knew about Poe’s giant crush on him. He had just told Finn that he had been struggling to find time away from work and Finn’s solution was… dicking him down? 

Finn carefully yanked Poe forward and Poe followed, giving up on trying to resist. “I’m taking you back to your quarters and you’re going to catch up on sleep. You can’t function on four hours of sleep every night!” 

“Actually, I can. I’ve been functioning on four hours of sleep for days. I don’t need to rest,” Poe insisted, even though the thought of taking a long nap to make up for all the sleep he had lost sounded really appealing. But he still had so much work to do and he didn’t want to waste time sleeping when he could be working on approving the piles of untouched supply reports that were sitting on his desk.

Finn seemed to have given up on trying to argue Poe and simply dragged him into his quarters without another word. Before Poe could try to talk his way out of the situation like he always did, Finn swept Poe up in his arms bridal style, placed him on his bed, and tucked him in. Poe’s mind went blank when Finn gently pulled his blanket over his chest so he was only able to gather the brainpower to form words once Finn started walking away. “Wait, Finn, you’re actually serious about this?” 

“Of course I am. Now, go sleep and don’t wake up until I come back in a day or so. Got it? Sleep well.” With that, Finn turned off the lights and closed the door. Poe considered getting up and running after Finn just to prove that he had enough energy and didn’t need to sleep at all but his bed was so comfortable and he just wanted to sink into his mattress. As he tried to fight the sleepiness washing over him like waves gently lapping on the shores of a beach, Poe thought about how lucky he was to have Finn in his life. Finn cared about Poe the way nobody else did, and if he could, Poe would spend every second of his life with his co-general.

These thoughts started to fade as exhaustion won. Poe thought to himself _I’ll just sleep for a little bit_ and closed his eyes.

~

Poe woke up feeling extremely disoriented. It took him a full minute to sit up, rub the sleep out of his eyes, and take in his surroundings. He knew that he was in his quarters but he had to adjust to the light that was streaming into his room from the slightly opened door. Figuring that an open door meant that he was allowed to leave, Poe walked out of his bedroom and wandered around the base for a couple of minutes before he found Finn. 

Finn was in the command room and he was surrounded by the most important people in the Resistance. The way Finn was standing radiated confidence and Poe stood in the doorway, watching as Finn spoke.  
  


“We have some allies in the Nirapon system that need some support in dealing with First Order sympathizers so Commander Zawon, you and your squadron should go take care of it. Connix will send the coordinates over to you guys. Commanders Tyrip and Requam, be prepared to provide backup, ” instructed Finn. The commanders Finn had addressed nodded and walked away briskly as Finn swiveled towards other people around him. 

“Yttri and Obium, take care of the supply reports today. There’s no need for Poe to look them over. Everybody else, make sure everything is running smoothly as usual. We need to keep all communication channels open in case anything happens. Meeting adjourned.” 

Everybody scattered once Finn stopped talking and Poe walked over to his co-general with a smile on his face. Even in his half-awake state, Poe was thoroughly impressed by Finn’s display of leadership. “Hey, General, that was really good.”

“General, thank you,” Finn cheekily replied, flashing one of his smiles that always made Poe swoon. “How are you feeling? Did you sleep well?”

Rubbing the back of his head to try to clear the sleep-induced haze in his brain, Poe answered, “I’m okay. Still a little sleepy. How long was I out for?” 

Finn checked his watch and beamed proudly. “Twenty hours! Almost a full day.”  
  


“Twenty hours? Oh my god, I have so much work to do.” Poe tried to brush past Finn to get to the room where he did all his work, but Finn wrapped his arms around his co-general to restrain him. 

“No, you’re not going to do work today. You can get back to work tomorrow, but you’re taking today off. I’ll take care of today’s work. Got it?” Finn gave Poe a stern look and Poe sighed. He stopped struggling in Finn’s arms and Finn let go of him, knowing he had finally given in. 

“Fine, but if you need anything, let me know,” Poe said as he walked out of the room backward while facing Finn, and he flashed an appreciative smile as he pointed a finger at Finn. “General.”  
  


“General,” Finn responded grinning. With that, Poe turned around and left the control center with a small smile on his face, the result of the giddy realization that Finn cared a lot more about him than Poe had expected. 

On his day off, Poe realized just how time-consuming being a general was. After talking to Finn, he sat down and had his first proper meal in what felt like forever. He was so used to snacking and sneaking bites of food in between meetings that it felt strange to sit down and enjoy what he was consuming.

After breakfast, Poe decided to wander around the Resistance base just to make sure everything was running smoothly. It was amazing to see the ebbs and flows of post-war life on the base from the perspective as a member, not the general, of the Resistance. People seemed a lot more relaxed and Poe was surprised to hear the sound of laughter at one point. During the war, joy was rare and as Poe walked around the base, he felt like he was surrounded by ebullience. 

He decided to stop by the hangar to visit his friends from the Black squadron. They were all in their flight suits, prepared to embark on another mission, but they were all cracking jokes and breezily talking. Poe was embarrassed to almost have been brought to tears at the sight of his closest friends enjoying themselves and he walked over to greet them. 

Of course, everybody was delighted to see him. Jessika Pava had thrown her arms around him and exclaimed, “You never come visit us anymore! We miss you so much!” while Karé and Iolo chimed in in agreement. Poe sarcastically responded with, “C’mon guys! You know I’m too busy with keeping the galaxy together to visit my favorite people.” 

Jessika lightly punched him in the shoulder and laughed, shaking her head at his response. As put-together as the group felt, Poe was painfully aware that there was a missing member of the squadron: Snap. When Poe and Karé made eye contact, he could tell that she was still hurting and he gave her a comforting hug. Even though he couldn’t see her face, Poe could tell that she was smiling.

“Poe, listen, we love you and all, but we’re just about to go out on a mission. Come visit us after?” Jessika asked as she began climbing up into the cockpit of her X-wing. 

Poe let go of Karé and replied, “I’ll see if I want to. Good luck!” 

After playfully frowning, Jessika put her helmet on and gave Poe a wave before she prepared for take-off. Poe leaned against the wall of the hangar and watched as his friends flew off. He remembered when he used to embark on missions with them not too long ago and felt a pang of nostalgia as old memories resurfaced. 

He remembered when he would excitedly prepare for missions because he loved the feeling of soaring through the galaxy with his friends by his side and BB-8 at his back. Those moments made him feel invincible and Poe wanted nothing more than to experience that feeling again instead of feeling cramped and frustrated after dealing with legal documents and complicated political relationships. 

Poe kept himself occupied by checking up on his X-wing for a few hours before he went back to wandering around the base. When he usually had time, Poe would always look for Finn so he could catch up with his best friend. But since Finn was probably too busy doing work, Poe had to find somebody else to visit. So, he decided to visit BB-8 and Rey. 

Ever since Rey started training, she had been particularly elusive, but Poe was lucky enough to find her without having to trek through the forest. BB-8 beeped happily when he saw Poe and rolled over to his companion, bumping into his leg while continuing to squeal in binary. Poe knelt and rubbed the top of BB-8’s dome as he broke into a giant grin. “Hey, buddy! Is Rey taking good care of you?”  
  


“Rey is right here and she can speak for herself.” Rey walked out from behind a tree and shut off her lightsaber as she walked over to Poe. Poe stood up and greeted the Jedi with a nod. 

“Have you been taking good care of BB-8?” 

Rey rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, “Of course I have. Why wouldn’t I be taking good care of him?”  
  


“You didn’t drop a tree on him this time, right?” Poe glanced down at BB-8, who shook his head, and he dramatically blew out a breath of relief. 

“Oh drop it, you. I’m a Jedi now so you better watch out,” Rey pointed the hilt of her lightsaber at Poe jokingly. Poe could tell that she was clearly joking from her light tone but still held up both his hands to express surrender. She chuckled and tucked her lightsaber into the slot in her belt. “What are you doing here?”  
  


“Finn’s taking over being general for today and forced me to take a day off so I decided to come here and check out how you and BB-8 are doing,” Poe explained as he kneeled once again to rub BB-8’s head. BB-8 expressed his satisfaction by giving a low whir, clearly elated to be reunited with Poe. 

“Finn cares a lot about you, you know,” Rey slowly said, eyeing Poe purposefully. Poe knew that Finn cared a lot about him as a friend but the way Rey was speaking gave the impression that maybe Finn cared about him in a romantic sense. But he didn’t want to assume and chose to think about Rey’s words in a platonic context.

“Yeah, he really does. He’s my best friend. Other than BB-8, obviously.” 

Rey scoffed and shook her head as she locked eyes with Poe. “I meant he cares about you in a romantic way, you nerfherder. Are you both really that dense?” 

“Wait, you’re serious?” Poe lifted his eyebrows in surprise and BB-8 made a sound that resembled a laugh. 

“Yes, I’m serious. He’s been making eyes at you ever since you gave him that old leather jacket, and don’t think that I haven’t seen you staring at him too. You both are obviously in love with each other and it’s about time you two admit it,” Rey sighed as she sat down on a rock and rested her elbows on her knees. “I’m absolutely exhausted from watching you and Finn hopelessly pine. Please just admit your love so Finn will stop coming into my room in the middle of the night to talk about how much he cares about you.”  
  


Poe opened his mouth, expecting a witty answer to magically form. However, he only managed to incredulously ask, “Finn talks about me?” 

Poe’s mind conjured up an image of Finn vividly ranting to Rey, his hands gesturing as he explained his feelings. He could picture Rey’s exasperated but adoring expression and he could even imagine the way Finn’s eyes would light up as he spoke. The image made the corners of Poe’s mouth tug upwards. 

“Who else would he talk about? Every day, he has something to say about you. As your friend, I’m begging you to confess your feelings soon. I don’t know how long I can take hearing Finn talk about your hair. C’mon BB-8, I need to run the training course again.” BB-8 nudged Poe one last time before he followed Rey as she stood up, put on her blinding visor, and took off sprinting into the forest with her lightsaber in her hand. 

Poe stared after his friends, watching their forms slowly disappear as they ventured deeper and deeper into the maze of towering trees. When Rey and BB-8 couldn’t be spotted, Poe turned and walked back to the base to dwell on Rey’s words. 

If Rey was right (which she probably was because she and Finn were very close), then Poe really had nothing to worry about. He should be able to confess his feelings that he had never acted on, and his worries about burdening Finn with his presence as well as any doubts he had about Finn leaving him would disappear. But it was ridiculously hard for Poe to summon the courage to do so.

Poe was known for being smooth and most people assumed that he didn’t need any effort to become romantically involved with people. While that was usually the case, Poe found it hard to confess his love. There were plenty of perfect moments in the week following that fateful day that Finn made Poe take a break when Poe could have easily admitted his feelings and gotten the terrifying ordeal over with. 

Finn started spending more helping out with general-related duties so Poe shared moments with him when they would both be alone in a room together, silently reviewing documents, and Poe could have easily just brought up the topic of how he really loved Finn. But he didn’t. 

There was a specific moment that Poe had almost seized the moment. He and Finn were sitting shoulder to shoulder at a desk and they were looking at an old map of the planets on the outer rim of the galaxy. Finn pointed at a tiny planet in the very corner of the map and said, “I know that planet seems tiny but I really would love to visit there. It just seems like a calm place. We should go together when we’re done fixing the galaxy.”

Poe was taken aback at how casually Finn had suggested that they travel to a planet together but he nodded in agreement and tried to sound calm as he replied, “To be fair, anywhere that’s far away from where everything is happening seems like a calm place. I’m up for it if you are.” 

Finn glanced at Poe sideways and offered an appreciative smile before he gently placed his hand on top of Poe’s. That simple gesture nearly made Poe topple out of his chair but he forced himself to stay steady. He looked over at Finn and he knew that that moment was the perfect time for him to just spit out his feelings so he didn’t have to hide them anymore. However, before the words could crawl out from between his lips, Poe clamped his mouth shut and returned the smile, deciding to just enjoy the moment instead of risking ruining it. 

The aching feeling of yearning started slowly chipping away at Poe and Poe was somehow both excited and terrified of the day that his feelings would spill over. He really hoped that his romantic feelings for Finn wouldn’t complicate their statuses as generals but at the same time, Poe wondered if he was overcomplicating the situation by being too scared to admit his feelings.

Then, one day, while Finn and Poe were flying back from their visit to a planet that needed aid, Poe finally gave in to the temptation that had been gnawing away at him from the moment he met Finn. Finn was flying the ship because Poe was honestly so exhausted from holding himself together while discussing politics. Poe rested his head on Finn’s shoulder as Finn smoothly navigated the ship. 

“Finn, I really like you, you know? You’re a great guy,” Poe sleepily admitted. His guard was lowered due to fatigue and he couldn’t find the energy to care about the possible repercussions of his actions. “In fact, I like you so much that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” 

There was a beat of silence and panic briefly spiked in Poe’s heart. Poe glanced up at Finn to see if he made his co-general uncomfortable but Finn was smiling.  
  


“I want to spend the rest of my life with you too. Why else do you think I agreed to become your co-general?” Finn asked, a twinkle in his eye. Poe’s anxiety receded and it was replaced by a warm fuzzy feeling that spread throughout Poe’s body slowly, like cracks spreading through ice.

Poe placed a hand on the back of Finn’s head and just as Poe was about to ask for Finn’s permission for a kiss, Finn leaned in and pressed his lips against Poe’s. For a first kiss, objectively, it could have gone a lot better or worse but Poe believed that was the best kiss he had ever gotten in his entire life. Maybe it was because he felt like he had been waiting for his whole life for that moment.

When Finn pulled away, Poe immediately missed the feeling of Finn’s lips on his and pulled Finn into another kiss. Finn made a muffled noise of protest and Poe broke the kiss, giving him a confused look. 

“Poe, as much as I really want to make out with you, right now I have to focus on flying this ship so we don’t crash into an asteroid because I’m too busy kissing you,” Finn said and all the worry left Poe’s body. 

Poe rested his head on Finn’s shoulder and nestled closer as he remarked, “That’s fair but when we get back to the base, we get to make out. Sound good?” 

“Sounds good to me.” Poe could hear Finn’s smile in his voice and his heart fluttered with unbridled joy. They spent the rest of the flight stealing kisses and watching the stars pass them in bright blurs. Poe's weariness faded as it was replaced with anticipation for the future he would be spending with Finn. 

From that day on, Rey no longer had to worry about Finn coming into her room in the middle of the night to talk about Poe because Finn was always fast asleep, his arms wrapped around Poe. 

**Author's Note:**

> title is from the song “crowd” by silver sphere.  
> i finally returned to writing fanfiction after months of writing original content and also binge-watching countless tv shows! the scene with rey and poe is mostly inspired by the scene in parks and recs episode where ann tells ben to ask leslie out bcs they clearly have feelings for each other. if you wanna chat with me about finnpoe, hop on over to my [twitter](https://twitter.com/gaIaxygays)!


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